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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0208.PDF
208 FLIGHT, 18 February 1955 One of the crew of this A3D-1 is looking out through the roof ahead of the partially-open ditching hatch. SKYWARRIOR ... in both fuselage tanks. Wing fuel can be transferred to the for-ward-fuselage tank by compressor-bleed air pressure whenever the pilot desires. The wing tanks are provided with carbondioxide purging. One of the design features evolved from this system is themanner in which the fuel is consumed. It is intended that the pilot withholds transfer of wing fuel until it has been cooled bycontact with the outside wing skin (this cooling is very rapid at high altitude). The fuel is then transferred cold, and greatlyreduces boil-off of the lighter hydrocarbon fractions from the fuselage tanks, which was a considerable problem at high altitudewith some fuels (not with JP-4). In addition, the fuselage tanks are slightly pressurized (to 2 Ib/sq in). This system was muchlighter than any equivalent refrigeration system would have been. As the large drawing shows, the Skywarrior is operated by acrew of three. The provision of an ejection seat for each man would have involved a very serious enclosure design problem, forthe entire canopy over the flight deck would have had to be jettisonable. Furthermore, ejection seats would have had to faceforward; turning the rear gunner through 180 deg would have caused an aft-shift of the rear flight-deck bulkhead so reducingthe capacity of the forward fuselage fuel tank. The scheme adopted was reminiscent of the earlier Skyknight:all crew-members are enabled to leave the aircraft via a bail-out chute running downwards and aft from the cockpit floor. Thischute has smooth walls and is sealed at both upper and lower ends by doors, the upper door forming part of the floor and thelower door being part of the fuselage skin. To leave the aircraft, the lower door is opened by means of cartridge-pressurizedcylinders, which open and hold the door against the airstream up to the design limit speed. The upper door is also opened througha linkage tied to the lower door. This system has been proved effective and is 550 lb lighter than the best arrangement withejection seats. The weapons bay is worthy of note. A few large stores—presumably nuclear—are carried by a single shackle under the centre wing, but the majority of the stores carried by the Sky-warrior are attached to a removable platform located approxi- mately half-way up the weapons bay (this platform can also carryan additional self-sealing fuel tank connected to the aircraft fuel system). The bombs supported from the platform are carriedon individual ejector racks, 18 racks being employed to ensure positive separation of low-density stores. As shown in the largedrawing, an anti-buffet rake is also fitted ahead of the bay; this is opened by a jack tied to the bomb-door circuit and has beenfound to reduce buffet to an acceptable level under all conditions. At far right is a pic- torial analysis of the improvement in high frequency wing flut- ter characteristics^ re- sulting from a given weight addition. Right, curves under line the great value of the spoilers at high airspeeds. - o LANDING APPROACH! SPEED I ^AILERON + SPOILER Both hydraulic and electric systems are supplied with powerfrom self-contained units in the fuselage. The power comes, in the first instance, from turbines driven by compressor-bleed airducted through stainless-steel pipes from the J57s, and controlled by valves which are accessible to the crew. All the voltage relays,batteries, hydraulic accumulators and valving is positioned within a radius of about three feet from the air turbines; as a result theSkywarrior accessory systems are considered unusually reliable and invulnerable to battle damage, and flak curtains are fittedaround the drive units for added combat protection. The arrange- ment also worked out some 125 lb lighter than an equivalentconventional system. The general layout of the tail barbette, gun-laying scanner,tail-warning radar and main bomb-sight radar is shown in the large drawing. This drawing also shows the location of the Aero-jet JATO rocket take-off bottles, which can be individually clipped around a strong frame in the rear fuselage. These bottles providea total of 54,000 lb thrust for five seconds, and the A3D is, there- fore, theoretically capable of flying vertically for this period oftime. The acceleration provided is so great that carrier take-offs can be made without the use of a catapult, even at full load.Altogether the Skywarrior is proving exceptionally versatile, effective and easy to maintain. It is in full production at ElSegundo and an aircraft developed from it—the B-66—is in pro- duction at Long Beach. The B-66 series are aircraft powered byAllison J71s, and Air Force requirements have resulted in a much heavier machine than the A3D, with a shorter range but carryingrather more equipment. t n 6 2.5 •6 2 1.0 1.23 1 1 1 2.5 .5 1.0 .9* 2 1 2.5 0.5 .31 3 14 1 MAXIMUM LEVEL FLIGHT SPEED IOLOOOFT. STRUCTURALDESIGN SPEED SEA LEVEL EQUIVALENT AIRSPEED WING SECTION ADDED TOKQUE MATE«IAL, DISTRIBUTION IN PW CENT OF TOTAL WING MASS 2 3 4 5 FLUTTER SPEED INCREASE - *
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